Hosted video discovery and publishing platform

ABSTRACT

A hosted system provides any Internet user with the ability to quickly set up and customize a video channel, preferably as a web page or site that can be reached from any Internet-accessible device having a web browser. The solution includes tools for use by channel site creators to customize the look, feel, and page design. A particular web page or site may be associated with a given subject. As used herein, a page or site that has such an association is sometimes referred to as “subject-specific.” Once a subject-specific channel is created, a site administrator or individual visitors can search across the web and choose to bring those search results into the channel architecture. The system also enables a multiplatform search as an integrated part of a library build; if desired, search results are automatically populated into the channel content. The system also enables the characterization of the material returned, preferably according to a user-generated taxonomy.

This application claims priority to Ser. No. 60/818,369, filed Jul. 5,2006.

COPYRIGHT STATEMENT

This application includes subject matter that is protected by copyright.All rights are reserved.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

1. Technical Field

The present invention relates generally to online content discovery andpublishing.

2. Background of the Related Art

Currently, there are large collections of video clips available on websites across the publicly-routed Internet. Users of Internet-accessiblemachines can navigate to such web sites and view those clips, using aweb browser or browser plug-in. Also, Internet search engines provideend users with the capability of searching for video clips from thesesites. It is also known in the prior art for web site hosting entitiesto provide tools and templates to facilitate the creation of web pagesor sites, which pages or sites are then hosted by the entities for arecurring fee. These hosted sites also may include search capabilities.

BRIEF SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

Generally, the system provides any Internet user with the ability toquickly set up and customize a video channel, preferably as a web pageor site that can be reached from any Internet-accessible device having aweb browser. The solution includes tools for use by channel sitecreators to customize the look, feel, and page design. A particular webpage or site may be associated with a given subject. As used herein, apage or site that has such an association is sometimes referred to as“subject-specific.” Although not meant to be limiting, once asubject-specific channel is created, a site administrator or individualvisitors can search across the web and choose to bring those searchresults into the channel architecture. The system also enables amultiplatform search as an integrated part of a library build; ifdesired, search results are automatically populated into the channelcontent. The system also enables the characterization of the materialreturned, preferably according to a user-generated taxonomy. In oneembodiment, the taxonomy may be developed from a collaborative filteringreview that extends beyond the search characteristics. The system thusfacilitate the process of discovery and organization within a verticalchannel of online video content, drawing in videos from all over theInternet, and collecting them in new topical contexts, where they can beannotated by members of a social network, online community, or othergroup with a shared interest.

Preferably, the system provides links to or embedded players for contentthat is hosted on multiple third-party web sites. Web browsers thendisplay these independently-hosted videos in the context of the system'sweb pages. It is not required that the system copy, host, or serve thoseembedded videos, which typically are delivered by third parties undertheir own terms and licenses.

The foregoing has outlined some of the more pertinent features of theinvention. These features should be construed to be merely illustrative.Many other beneficial results can be attained by applying the disclosedinvention in a different manner or by modifying the invention as will bedescribed.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

For a more complete understanding of the present invention and theadvantages thereof, reference is now made to the following descriptionstaken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings, in which:

FIG. 1 is a simplified block diagram of a set of system components thatprovide a hosted system according to the invention;

FIG. 2 illustrates how the various functional components of the systeminteract with one another;

FIG. 3 illustrates a more detailed block diagram of the server-sidecomponents of the video discovery and publishing platform of theinvention;

FIG. 4 illustrates a registration page by which a user can begin theprocess of creating a video channel;

FIG. 5 illustrates a content definition page by which a user canidentify the channel content;

FIG. 6 illustrates a site template page by which a user can select apredefined channel template;

FIG. 7 illustrates a registration notice page displayed to the user uponcompletion of the channel creation process;

Each of FIGS. 8A-8D illustrates an administrative display by which theuser can configure an aspect of the channel;

FIGS. 9A-9B show video submission and peer review configurationdisplays;

FIG. 10 illustrates a channel (site) without any video content;

FIG. 11 illustrates a page from which video content can be searched orotherwise provided to the site;

FIG. 12 illustrates a search results page;

FIG. 13 illustrates the search results page following selection of oneof the video clips;

FIG. 14 illustrates the page of FIG. 13 following user selectionselection of the video;

FIG. 15 illustrates a display page following submission of a video forthe site;

FIG. 16 illustrates a page by which a user can search and submitmultiple video clips at one time;

FIG. 17 illustrates the channel with the submitted video clip;

FIG. 18 illustrates how a selected video is displayed in the page,together with a set of rating sliders;

FIG. 19 illustrates the rating slides of FIG. 18 after the user/viewerhas rated the video clip;

FIG. 20 illustrates a tag interface for the video display; and

FIG. 21 is a process flow describing the meta-search functionality thatis used to retrieve video clips for the channel.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF AN ILLUSTRATIVE EMBODIMENT

FIG. 1 illustrates representative system architecture for use inimplementing the subject matter described herein. The architecture isimplemented in or across one or more Internet accessible data centers asa web site (typically, a set of web pages) together with associatedapplications running behind the site. End users operateInternet-accessible devices (e.g., desktop computers, notebookcomputers, Internet-enabled mobile devices, phones or other deviceshaving rendering engines, or the like) that are capable of accessing andinteracting with the site. An end user machine has a web browser orother rendering engine that is compatible with AJAX technologies (e.g.,XHTML, XML, CSS, DOM, JSON, and the like). An end user accesses the sitein the usual manner, i.e., by opening the browser to a URL associatedwith a service provider domain. The user may authenticate to the site(or some portion thereof) by entry of a username and password. Theconnection between the end user entity machine and the system may beprivate (e.g., via SSL). Although connectivity via the publicly-routedInternet is typical, the end user may connect to the system in anymanner over any local area, wide area, wireless, wired, private or otherdedicated network. As seen in FIG. 1, the “server side” of the system100 preferably comprises an IP switch 102, a set of web servers 104, aset of application servers 106, a filesystem 108, a database 110, andone or more administrative servers 112. A representative web server isApache (2.0 or higher) that executes on a commodity machine (e.g., anIntel-based processor running Linux 2.4.x or higher). An applicationserver executes the one or more applications that provide the featuresof the site, including site creation and customization, videometa-search, content reviewing and filtering, commenting, tagging,playlists, user registration and profiles, affiliate signup, and soforth. The filesystem 108 preferably is an application level distributedsystem that operates across a number of servers using an HTTP interface.The database 110 may be implemented using MySQL, or any other convenientsystem. The administrator servers 112 handle other back end processesthat are used at the site or otherwise to facilitate the service; theseback end processes including, for example, user registration, billing,administration, and interoperability with third party sites and systemsas may be required. As also seen in FIG. 1, the system includes clientside code 114 that executes natively in the end user's web browser orother rendering engine. Typically, this code is served to the clientmachine when the end user accesses the site, although in the alternativeit may be resident on the client machine persistently.

The system is a multi-tier hosted service that can be customized andmanaged by the creators of affiliate sites. The client-side interfacepreferably is based on current web technology standards, including HTML4 and CSS stylesheets. The web interface is compatible with standardbrowsers including, without limitation, Internet Explorer on Windows,Firefox on multiple platforms, and Safari on Mac OS X and Windows.Supporting tools include Adobe Flash player and available JavaScriptlibraries. Client-side interfaces include, without limitation, dynamicweb pages with JavaScript for visual effects and AJAX functionality,embeddable widgets developed in Flash and HTML that can be placed onother sites, RSS feeds that provide alternate ways of accessing content,and the like. The server-side application is built on a common softwaresuite that includes Apache, MySQL, and Perl. The server-side applicationis a generic Linux/Unix/Posix-style environment and is easily portableto other equivalent server platforms. The system also supports H.264 andother encoding protocols.

The primary elements of the service architecture and the typical flowsof requests between them are represented in FIG. 2. As noted above, themain functional components of the system are implemented at anInternet-accessible system site 200, which is this case is reached byopening a browser to the domain magnify.net (this domain is merelyrepresentative, and it is a service mark of the assignee of thisapplication). As can be seen, the server-side functionality ispartitioned into several tiers as follows: a web server tier 202, whichdelivers static files and act as a load balancing proxy for theapplication servers; an application server tier 204, which combinesdynamic page templates with custom logic and functionality; a cachingserver tier 206, which provides a shared repository for short-termstorage of frequently used data; a database server tier 208, whichstores, searches and updates all persistent information within thesystem; and a messaging server tier 210, which sends automaticnotifications and accepts content from email or mobile SMS. A sharedfile service 211 holds static content including site-specific graphicsand image thumbnails. The application server also interacts with otherInternet services in a variety of ways: video hosting (post, retrieveand embed video content from third-party hosting services); advertisingnetworks (retrieve and embed targeted advertising from third-party adservers); and affiliated sites (XML APIs enable integration with othersites operated by affiliates).

End-users, site creators and others access the system through webbrowsers 212. Site channels (as will be described) typically areassociated with an affiliate's primary or “home” web site, and thesesites are identified by reference numeral 214. As indicated, affiliatesites can embed live widgets or query the system's API. As will bedescribed in more detail below, the system discovers, annotates andembeds video content from multiple video and search services, whichservices are indicated by reference numeral 216. The system uses websites and APIs to discover videos from such services. If desired, videosand content from the application may be syndicated to user blogs andother third party sites 218. The system also interoperates withadvertising services and networks 220 to serve text, banner and videoadvertisements. The system components illustrated in FIG. 2 are arepresentative embodiment; it is not required that all such componentsbe included, or that the identified boundaries be as shown. One of morecomponents may be combined or associated with the system or otherentities, as the case may be, without departing from the scope of thedescribed subject matter. It is not required that the components belocated within the same data center. As will be seen, the sitepreferably comprises a set of machines that execute a set of processes.A function may be implemented in a distributed manner, e.g., across aset of Intel processor (or equivalent)-based Linux (or equivalent)-basedserver machines that are connected in a local area network, or in anyother convenient manner.

FIG. 3 illustrates the primary modules of the server-side and how thesemodules interrelate to one another. As can be seen, the applicationlogic comprises a number of functional components that will now bedescribed in the context of a typical user interaction with the system.During such interaction, various displays are exported to the user's webbrowser, and these displays are described and illustrated below.

Generally, the system provides any Internet user with the ability toquickly set up and customize a video channel, preferably as a web pageor site that can be reached from any Internet-accessible device having aweb browser. The solution includes tools for use by channel sitecreators to customize the look, feel, and page design. A particular webpage or site may be associated with a given subject. As used herein, apage or site that has such an association is sometimes referred to as“subject-specific.” Although not meant to be limiting, once asubject-specific channel is created, a site administrator or individualvisitors can search across the web and choose to bring those searchresults into the channel architecture. The system also enables amultiplatform search as an integrated part of a library build; ifdesired, search results are automatically populated into the channelcontent. The system also enables the characterization of the materialreturned, preferably according to a user-generated taxonomy. In oneembodiment, the taxonomy may be developed from a collaborative filteringreview that extends beyond the search characteristics. The system thusfacilitate the process of discovery and organization within a verticalchannel of online video content, drawing in videos from all over theInternet, and collecting them in new topical contexts, where they can beannotated by members of a social network, online community, or othergroup with a shared interests.

Preferably, the system provides links to or embedded players for contentthat is hosted on multiple third-party web sites. Web browsers thendisplay these independently-hosted videos in the context of the system'sweb pages. It is not required that the system copy, host, or serve thoseembedded videos, which typically are delivered by third parties undertheir own terms and licenses.

A typical user interaction with the system begins with channel creation.As noted above, in a typical use scenario an end user operating a clientmachine navigates to the site's home page via a web browser. In thisembodiment, a site creator (an individual, an entity, or the like) isdirected to a web site where they are given the tools to create achannel name and to select a user name and password, and are providedwith site design and layout tools. FIG. 4 illustrates a typical userinterface at which the channel selection process begins. Using thisinterface, the user can name the channel and link to an existing site.Selecting the Next button navigates the user to the user interface ofFIG. 5. In this interface, the user can identify the channel andassociated keywords, select a content category (via the dropdown listselections), determine whether to allow others to post videos on thesite (via the dropdown list selections), indicate (via the radiobuttons) whether the channel will be public, unlisted or private, andselect a channel listing identifier that can be uploaded from the user'smachine. Once the desired information is input in the form fields, theuser selects the Next button and is navigated to the user interface ofFIG. 6. At this point, the user can select from a set of one or morepre-configured site templates. Of course, if desired the system maypresent a site configuration tool to enable the end user to create acustom look and feel for the site. Upon selection of a site template,the user selects the “Create my site!” button to complete the channelcreation process.

FIG. 7 illustrates a resulting notification page from which the user canmanage the channel. By selecting a radio button, the user can requestthe system to automatically find videos from third party sites thatmatch the keywords identified by the user. This search can be repeatedperiodically if the user indicates in a check box (or other UI widget).Alternatively, the user can select a radio button that enables the userto search and select videos from across the web (instead of having thesystem perform the meta-search). In another option, the user can uploadvideos from his or her computer by selecting that option. The page alsoindicates the user's site, which in this embodiment includes thechannel's name, indicated as a subdomain (e.g., site.magnify.net) of thehosted video discovery and publishing service.

The system may provide a number of site administration tools. A channelcalled “guitars” has been created by the channel creation processdescribed above and is available at the site guitars.magnify.net. FIG.8A is a representative page by which the user can manage accountinformation for this site. This includes setting up and managingadministrators, enabling email or other invitations, setting advertising(revenue sharing) options, and providing access to site statistics. FIG.8B is a representative page by which the user can customize the site'soptions and configuration including: site name and web address, sitedescription, whether and to what extent community interaction with thesite will be permitted, video submission and peer review policies forthe site, as well as formats and playback options. The video submissionand peer review policies identify whether the site creator intends toallow third parties to submit videos to the channel and/or to permitthird parties to peer review the videos on the channel. FIG. 9Aillustrates a screen by which the user can identify specific video andpeer review options for the site, and FIG. 9B illustrates a screen bywhich the user can configure rating descriptors and options if peerreview is enabled for the site. FIG. 8C is a representative page bywhich the user can change the design of the site. FIG. 8D is arepresentative page by which the user can manage the site's content.FIG. 8E is a page by which the user can establish and manage advancedconfiguration options including: building multiple sites into a networkand managing that network, embedding video community content on othersites, adjusting user registration options, and others.

FIG. 10 illustrates a representative site that does not yet include anyvideos. By selecting the Submit, the user is navigated to a Submit page,such as shown in FIG. 11. From this page (or other pages), the user canupload videos from his or her computer, search identified third partyweb sites, or link to a specific video. In this example, the user hastyped “Fender Stratocaster” in the fill-in field and selected the Searchbutton. This action causes the system to perform a meta-search on one ormore third party sites to locate relevant video content associated withthe search criteria. FIG. 12 illustrates a representative search resultspage. This search results page provides several options. If the userselects a Preview link, the video is displayed in a preview pane, suchas shown in FIG. 13. From this page, the user can click on “SelectVideo,” which action opens up the page shown in FIG. 14. From this pagethe user can enter additional information about the video includingdescriptive text, comments, site-specific metadata tags, and the like.As this point the user may decide to submit the video to the channel.This can be accomplished by selecting the “Submit Video” link; the sameaction can be accomplished by selecting the “Submit” link in FIG. 13.FIG. 15 illustrates the page that results from the submission.

The submission process just described and illustrated is not meant to belimiting. The system preferably also provides automated tools tofacilitate the video discovery and submission process. FIG. 16illustrates a representative display page for this purpose. Using thispage, the user can find existing video clips by entering keywords in asearch field and requesting the system to issue a search of one or morethird party sites. This automatic find feature performs a meta-searchacross the identified sites. The page also enables the user to eithershow the search results (so that the user can select which videos shouldbe included in the site), or to automatically post a configurable numberof discovered videos from each identified search source. Using theillustrated page controls, the user can then direct the system toautomatically repeat this auto-find and posting process everyconfigurable number of days and to group results according to one ormore identified meta-tags. Using the other illustrated controls, thepage also enables the user to exclude certain videos from the searchresults, and to upload videos from the user's own computer or otheridentified source.

Videos submitted to the channel (whether manually or through anautomated process) are available for viewing and peer review, as is nowdescribed. FIG. 17 illustrates a sample page comprising the site, whichpage now includes the video (that has been located as a result of themeta-search) and submitted via the submission process described in FIGS.11-15 above. Of course, if the auto-find feature (of FIG. 16) wasselected and the user had selected to post a configurable number ofclips, there would be more videos available for display. In any case,assume now that a viewer (whether the creator, or any third party thathas access to the site) selects the video (e.g., by clicking on theimage). This action causes the video to be played in a player, such asshown in FIG. 18. The player preferably includes a set of one or morecontrols including About, Rate It, Related, Comment, Tag, Share andProblem. In this example, the Rate It button has been selected. Thisaction results in a set of user-configurable sliders to be presented tothe viewer. Using the sliders, the viewer then can provide a review ofthe display content, e.g., based on one or more user- or system-definedattributes. These attributes can be defined and configured using thesubmission and peer review options, such as illustrated above in FIGS.9A-9B. FIG. 19 illustrates the ratings panel that has been manipulatedby the user to rate the video he or she is viewing or has viewed. Thesystem preferably collects data from multiple viewers and then uses theinformation (in the aggregate) to fine tune advertising on the site, andto provide advertisers and ad networks with better metadata concerning,for example, user-generated video content. Typically, the aggregatedratings information for a given video on the site (or a set of videos)is posted on the site. If a particular video receives poor ratings, thevideo may be deleted from the site, either manually or per an automaticsetting that the administrator can establish.

FIG. 20 illustrates the display when the user selects the Tag button.This option enables the viewer to enter viewer-specific tags if the sitecreator/administrator has permitted this option. The Related controldisplays a form by which the viewer can see related videos, the Commentcontrol displays a form by which the viewer can enter comments or otherdescriptive material, and the Share control enables the viewer to sharethe video, e.g., by sending the video to another via email or SMS, bylinking to video, by including the video in a blog, by creating aplaylist that includes the video, or the like. The Problem controlenables the viewer to report a problem with the video and/or itsdisplay.

FIG. 21 illustrates the meta-search function as a process flow. As notedabove, the channel creator and visitors to the channel site can entersearch terms, which the system then sends as queries to one or more webservices. Although not required, preferably the system sends the searchqueries to multiple kinds of video search engines, including sites thatdirectly host and deliver video from their own servers as well as sitesthat index videos hosted on other servers. As is known, video clips aretypically searched using meta-tags or other descriptive informationabout the video content. Such information typically is created by thevideo creator or other publisher and is assumed to be available in acomputer-readable format (e.g., such as XML). As indicated in FIG. 21,the system receives the responses from the various search queries usingknown techniques, e.g., XML or object-notation web APIs (using REST orRPC protocols), retrieving one or more RSS feeds, or the like. In thealternative, the system performs the meta-search by automated direct webaccess to public video search pages, with use of text patternrecognition to identify and parse the search results returned. Thesystem may also include the results of queries of one or more localdatabases containing references to videos that have been discoveredpreviously, or that have been submitted directly to the system. Asillustrated, the system then caches the results of the search queries toobviate repeated requests to the outside search engines. (Of course, thesystem may include its own search engine or video discoveryfunctionality). Once the results are obtained, users can navigatebetween an overview mode, which shows results from multiple searchengines, and a focused mode, which shows only a specified engine'sresults. The index information (e.g., the URLs) associated with thevideos discovered through external search queries may be stored in alocal database system for future retrieval and annotation. Finally, thesystem may make additional follow-up API or web services requests togather extended metadata regarding a selected video found through asearch engine.

As described and illustrated above, users may perform a search and thenchoose videos found on external search engines to be included in thelocal video channel. References to selected videos, preferably alongwith associated metadata retrieved from the search engine and anyadditional follow-up queries, preferably are saved in a local databaseand associated with the video channel through which they were selected.In addition, and as described above with respect to FIG. 16, users canperform a search and request that links to a certain number of matchingvideos be imported into the channel all at once. Preferably, the systemasks site creators for relevant search terms during the site creationprocess, and with their approval can quickly import a collection ofrelated videos into the channel by searching on each of those searchterms. Videos and associated metadata that have been linked to a givenchannel preferably are displayed on that channel's web site. Videoshosted on third-party sites that have been discovered and linked to byusers of the site preferably are played through an embedded window in achannel-specific page of metadata. Videos that cannot be played throughan embedded window can be linked to instead of being shown directly.Moreover, as also shown in FIG. 16, an auto-discover/auto-publishfeature allows for a calendar based tool that searches, discovers andposts a configurable number of videos every configurable number of days.This allows the site content to remain fresh and relevant.

As also described above, the channel web site allows the site's creator(and visitors) to associate additional comments and other metadata witha particular video clip. Over time, preferably the system builds up aset of descriptive metadata about the videos referenced on each siteincluding, for example, the local comments, reviews, ratings, and tagsentered by that channel's users.

The system also enables site users to manage a structured set of tags,including the ability to organize tags into categories, define synonymsfor tags, and suggest replacements. Preferably, the system presentsuser- or system-configured candidate tags that a user or viewer may thenchoose to apply to a particular video if desired. In addition, thesystem's search interface may present user- or system-defined tags assearch tags that a user or viewer may then choose to use as searchcriteria. If desired, the system can present the suggested candidatetags or search tags in several ways, including by popularity oraccording to the tag structure and relationships that have been definedfor that site. Moreover, the system may present sets of mutuallyexclusive candidate tags (e.g., as a slider or equivalent single-choicemechanism to indicate mutual exclusivity) so that a user can choose totag a clip according to the different tag attributes. In addition,preferably each channel site maintains its own distinct collection oftags applied by users to videos including, for example, bothsystem-managed tags and other user-entered tags. In this regard, thesystem pre-defines some tags with widespread applicability and enablesthe site administrator to provide local aliases, so that a site creatorcan rename tags while maintaining the same taxonomy structure.

The channel web site allows the site's creator and visitors to performsearches on the local database of both discovered video metadata, andsite-specific contextual metadata. Preferably, the system can integrateor compare metadata about a video from multiple sites that reference thevideo. Moreover, preferably the system performs searches for videosusing integrated metadata, e.g., from multiple sites, although this isnot a requirement as a search may be directed to a single site. Wheremeta-searching is performed on integrated metadata, preferably thesystem groups or associates videos based on commonalities in theintegrated metadata. If desired, the system can make recommendations toindividual users for videos or channel sites based on the integratedmetadata.

The system can use a channel ranking algorithm to facilitate discoveryof channels from the primary site. That algorithm may rank channelsbased on various factors, such as total visitors, total new members,site owner, types of user interaction, and other sorting and selectioncriteria. The channels can be subscribed to via RSS (or other means) andtherefore can be made available on computers, mobile devices, and hometelevision receivers (such as Tivo, Apple TV and other IPTV-enableddevices connected to the public Web via IP or other protocols.

As can be seen in FIG. 10, preferably the site includes one or morethird party-sourced advertisements that are related in some way with thesite content. There is no requirement that advertisements be displayedfrom the site of course.

Although not shown in detail, a user can use its own domain name as theURL of the channel.

The system provides a managed or hosted service that is scalable andhighly reliable. Multiple users create video channels, which are webpages (or sites). (A web site is a set of one or more pages). Aftercreating and customizing a channel site, the site creator can list thesite in a public directory of video channels (or maintain the siteprivate) and can send electronic mail messages inviting people to visitthe site. The channel site is associated with one or more DNS host namesassociated with the system. Using a search tool, the creator (or othershaving permission) cause the system to meta-search and then populate thechannel with video content. Web users who visit a web address associatedwith the system receive a customized web interface that contains channelcontent and metadata, and that allows for various user interactions suchas viewing, rating, comment, upload, sharing, playlist creation, videocommunities, and revenue sharing. The system provides an infrastructureby which a large number of sites that are looking to become part of anonline ecosystem (but that do not have the technology or focus on videorequired) to reach a larger audience. By enabling videos to beidentified and classified according to (preferably user-configurable)site-specific categories, the system enables aggregated audiences forcontent that might otherwise not even be seen.

Of course, although not described in detail, one of ordinary skill inthe art will appreciate that the inventive system may interact with oneor more e-commerce, ad-serving, payment, promotion, and distributionsystems as required. One of more of such components may be performednatively, or through web-based or other interaction with third partysystems.

While the above describes a particular order of operations performed bycertain embodiments of the invention, it should be understood that suchorder is exemplary, as alternative embodiments may perform theoperations in a different order, combine certain operations, overlapcertain operations, or the like. References in the specification to agiven embodiment indicate that the embodiment described may include aparticular feature, structure, or characteristic, but every embodimentmay not necessarily include the particular feature, structure, orcharacteristic.

The invention can take the form of an entirely hardware embodiment, anentirely software embodiment, or an embodiment containing both hardwareand software elements. In one preferred embodiment, the initial layoutand reflow algorithms are implemented in software executing in one ormore server machines. The invention (or portions thereof) may take theform of a computer program product accessible from a computer-usable orcomputer-readable medium providing program code for use by or inconnection with a computer or any instruction execution system. Acomputer-usable or computer readable medium can be any device orapparatus that can include, store or communicate the program for use byor in connection with the instruction execution system, apparatus, ordevice. The medium can be an electronic, magnetic, optical, or the like.Examples of a computer-readable medium include a semiconductor or solidstate memory, magnetic tape, a removable computer diskette, a randomaccess memory (RAM), a read-only memory (ROM), a rigid magnetic disk andan optical disk. Current examples of optical disks include compactdisk—read only memory (CD-ROM), compact disk—read/write (CD-R/W) andDVD.

As noted above, preferably the client-side interface is dynamic andaffords end users with significant creative control over how videos aredisplayed and integrated to create their customized channels. Althoughnot required, the interface is conveniently enabled using AJAX(Asynchronous Javascript and XML), which are a known set of webdevelopment techniques that enhance the web page's interactivity, speedand usability.

While the system has been described in the context of video and videoclip discovery and publishing, this is not a limitation of theinvention. The techniques of the invention may be used for photos,graphics, music, software, or other content.

While given components of the system have been described separately, oneof ordinary skill will appreciate that some of the functions may becombined or shared in given instructions, program sequences, codeportions, and the like.

1. A method, operating in a computer network, comprising: displaying aset of one or more pages from which a user defines and manages a videochannel; responsive to a request, performing a search of one or morethird party search engines to locate video content for the videochannel; associating at least some of the video content located by thesearch with the video channel; and displaying the video channel as a webpage.
 2. The method as described in claim 1 wherein the video channel isassociated with a user-selected subject.
 3. The method as described inclaim 1 wherein the web page is displayed in association with one ormore other web pages corresponding to other video channels.
 4. Themethod as described in claim 1 wherein the search is a meta-search. 5.The method as described in claim 1 wherein the video content located bythe search is associated with the video channel automatically upondiscovery of the video content.
 6. The method as described in claim 1further including repeating the performing and associating stepsperiodically to identify new content for the video channel.
 7. Themethod as described in claim 1 wherein a configurable number of videoclips located by the search are associated with the video channelautomatically upon discovery of the video clips.
 8. The method asdescribed in claim 1 further including initiating a rendering of a videoclip within the web page in response to a given user-initiated action.9. The method as described in claim 8 further including receiving ratinginformation associated with the rendering of the video clip.
 10. Themethod as described in claim 8 further including receiving a commentassociated with the rendering of the video clip.
 11. The method asdescribed in claim 8 further including initiating a sharing operation inresponse to the rendering of the video clip.
 12. The method as describedin claim 1 wherein the request is associated with a set of one or moreuser- or system-defined tags.
 13. The method as described in claim 12wherein the system-defined tags are defined by a taxonomy.
 14. Themethod as described in claim 13 further including renaming asystem-defined tag.
 15. The method as described in claim 1 wherein avideo clip on the video channel is associated with a set of one or moreuser- or system-defined tags.
 16. A server comprising a processor, and acomputer-readable medium, the computer-readable medium havingprocessor-executable instructions for performing the method steps ofclaim
 1. 17. An Internet-accessible system comprising one or moreservers for performing the method steps of claim 1.